Chapel Hill, N.C. — The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has once again topped the list of “100 Best Values in Public Colleges” in a ranking by a national finance magazine.

This is the eighth straight time UNC-Chapel Hill has held the top spot since Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine first published its analysis in 1998.

Five other North Carolina universities also made the list:

• No. 18 – N.C. State University 
• No. 25 – UNC-Wilmington 
• No. 29 – Appalachian State University 
• No. 43 – UNC-Asheville 
• No. 98 – UNC-Greensboro 

Kiplinger’s ranks four-year public schools that combine outstanding economic value with top-notch education.

“Private colleges have recently averaged about $33,000 a year — a sharp contrast to the public institutions on Kiplinger’s Top 100 list, most of which cost less than $20,000 a year for in-state students,” according to the magazine’s press release.

UNC-Chapel Hill charges $13,731 for in-state undergraduate tuition and $30,629 for out-of-state. Students average about $14,912 in debt after graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill, according to the report.

“UNC students share classrooms with other high-achieving students and learn from a nationally acclaimed faculty,” according to the report. “The historic campus is undergoing a major refurbishing that includes the FedEx Global Education Center, a hub for international studies, as well as a state-of-the-art physical-science complex.”

Selected from a pool of more than 500 public, four-year colleges and universities, schools in the Kiplinger 100 were ranked according to academic quality, including admission and retention rates, student-faculty ratios and four- and six-year graduation rates, as well as on cost and financial aid.

You can view the complete report at the magazine's Web site.